Exodus 18:26

18:26 They judged the people under normal circumstances; the difficult cases they would bring ¹  to Moses, but every small case they would judge themselves.

Exodus 18:22

18:22 They will judge ²  the people under normal circumstances, ³  and every difficult case ⁴  they will bring to you, but every small case ⁵  they themselves will judge, so that ⁶  you may make it easier for yourself, ⁷  and they will bear the burden ⁸  with you.

Exodus 5:21

5:21 and they said to them, “May the Lord look on you and judge, ⁹  because you have made us stink ¹⁰  in the opinion of ¹¹  Pharaoh and his servants, ¹²  so that you have given them an excuse to kill us!” ¹³ 

Exodus 18:13

18:13 On the next day ¹⁴  Moses sat to judge ¹⁵  the people, and the people stood around Moses from morning until evening.

Exodus 18:16

18:16 When they have a dispute, ¹⁶  it comes to me and I decide ¹⁷  between a man and his neighbor, and I make known the decrees of God and his laws.” ¹⁸ 

Exodus 2:14

2:14 The man ¹⁹  replied, “Who made you a ruler ²⁰  and a judge over us? Are you planning ²¹  to kill me like you killed that ²²  Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid, thinking, ²³  “Surely what I did ²⁴  has become known.”

[18:26]  ¹ tn This verb and the verb in the next clause are imperfect tenses. In the past tense narrative of the verse they must be customary, describing continuous action in past time.

[18:22]  ² tn The form is the perfect tense with the vav (ו) consecutive, making it equivalent to the imperfect of instruction in the preceding verse.

[18:22]  ³ tn Heb “in every time,” meaning “in all normal cases” or “under normal circumstances.” The same phrase occurs in v. 26.

[18:22]  ⁴ tn Heb “great thing.”

[18:22]  ⁵ tn Heb “thing.”

[18:22]  ⁶ tn The vav here shows the result or the purpose of the instructions given.

[18:22]  ⁷ tn The expression וְהָקֵל מֵעָלֶיךָ (vÿhaqel me’aleykha) means literally “and make it light off yourself.” The word plays against the word for “heavy” used earlier – since it was a heavy or burdensome task, Moses must lighten the load.

[18:22]  ⁸ tn Here “the burden” has been supplied.

[5:21]  ³ tn The foremen vented their anger on Moses and Aaron. The two jussives express their desire that the evil these two have caused be dealt with. “May Yahweh look on you and may he judge” could mean only that God should decide if Moses and Aaron are at fault, but given the rest of the comments it is clear the foremen want more. The second jussive could be subordinated to the first – “so that he may judge [you].”

[5:21]  ⁴ tn Heb “you have made our aroma stink.”

[5:21]  ⁵ tn Heb “in the eyes of.”

[5:21]  ⁶ tn Heb “in the eyes of his servants.” This phrase is not repeated in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[5:21]  ⁷ tn Heb “to put a sword in their hand to kill us.” The infinitive construct with the lamed (לָתֶת, latet) signifies the result (“so that”) of making the people stink. Their reputation is now so bad that Pharaoh might gladly put them to death. The next infinitive could also be understood as expressing result: “put a sword in their hand so that they can kill us.”

[18:13]  ⁴ tn Heb “and it was/happened on the morrow.”

[18:13]  ⁵ sn This is a simple summary of the function of Moses on this particular day. He did not necessarily do this every day, but it was time now to do it. The people would come to solve their difficulties or to hear instruction from Moses on decisions to be made. The tradition of “sitting in Moses’ seat” is drawn from this passage.

[18:16]  ⁵ tn Or “thing,” “matter,” “issue.”

[18:16]  ⁶ tn The verb שָׁפַט (shafat) means “to judge”; more specifically, it means to make a decision as an arbiter or umpire. When people brought issues to him, Moses decided between them. In the section of laws in Exodus after the Ten Commandments come the decisions, the מִשְׁפָּטִים (mishppatim).

[18:16]  ⁷ tn The “decrees” or “statutes” were definite rules, stereotyped and permanent; the “laws” were directives or pronouncements given when situations arose. S. R. Driver suggests this is another reason why this event might have taken place after Yahweh had given laws on the mountain (Exodus, 165).

[2:14]  ⁶ tn Heb “And he”; the referent (the man) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:14]  ⁷ tn Heb “Who placed you for a man, a ruler and a judge over us?” The pleonasm does not need to be translated. For similar constructions see Lev 21:9; Judg 6:8; 2 Sam 1:13; Esth 7:6.

[2:14]  ⁸ tn The line reads “[is it] to kill me you are planning?” The form אֹמֵר (’omer) is the active participle used verbally; it would literally be “[are you] saying,” but in this context it conveys the meaning of “thinking, planning.” The Qal infinitive then serves as the object of this verbal form – are you planning to kill me?

[2:14]  ⁹ tn Heb “the Egyptian.” Here the Hebrew article functions in an anaphoric sense, referring back to the individual Moses killed.

[2:14]  ¹⁰ tn The verb form is “and he said.” But the intent of the form is that he said this within himself, and so it means “he thought, realized, said to himself.” The form, having the vav consecutive, is subordinated to the main idea of the verse, that he was afraid.

[2:14]  ¹¹ tn The term הַדָּבָר (haddavar, “the word [thing, matter, incident]”) functions here like a pronoun to refer in brief to what Moses had done. For clarity this has been specified in the translation with the phrase “what I did.”